


Never Say Goodbye

by Reibunriinta



Category: Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (Anime), Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Angst, Can you hear me crying, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 11:10:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reibunriinta/pseuds/Reibunriinta
Summary: Kikiriku is having nightmares that Ja'far will die like Rurumu, and needs his older brother to comfort him.





	Never Say Goodbye

Ja’far was having a miserable day, four years had passed since the great tragedy, the anniversary of half his family’s death was coming in just a few weeks, and everyone was still pretending they were happy. None of them wanted to be the first one to break down that year, and it really felt like sort of a twisted game, who would be the first one to bring it up. This year, it turned out not to be him but Kikiriku. 

He was still hard at work, trying to distract himself by doing work that wouldn’t even be necessary til weeks later, when he heard a knock at his office door and set his quill down. “Please come in.”

He wasn’t quite sure who he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t his baby brother, sniffling quietly as he shuffled into the room. Kikiriku was eight years old now, and nearly as tall as Ja’far who had grown quite a bit in the last four years. He was honestly the pride and joy of his family, and the one that the younger kids looked up to aside from Ja’far and their father, but right now he wasn’t looking at all like his normal cheerful self. His eyes were puffy from crying, his hands were trembling, and he was staring down at the floor. 

Ja’far was so startled by this, instead of greeting the child, he just asked a concerned question. “Are you okay?”

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Kikiriku forced a smile and came to sit down across from his elder brother. “Yeah um...I’m okay but...um...I wanted to ask you something…”

“Sure…” Ja’far had no idea what it would be, Kikiriku often had unpredictable things on his mind after all, however from how shaken the young boy seemed to be, he worried that he’d somehow learned of Sham Lash. How would he explain that to the kid who’s always seen him as a protector? Would Kikiriku still trust him knowing what he’d once done?

Kikiriku wasn’t asking about Sham Lash however, as Ja’far soon discovered when he hung his head and muttered his question ashamedly. “Um...you aren’t going to go away ever right? L-like mommy did?”

Ja’far’s eyes widened, his heart falling. Kikiriku was old enough to understand what death was, unlike his siblings who knew Rurumu wasn’t coming back but couldn’t quite grasp at why, and though he hadn’t said anything about it, Ja’far was beginning to wonder if the kid was scared of his and others’ mortality. 

“I…” he froze up, not knowing what to say. After all, he couldn’t promise that he or anyone else would never die. He was just as mortal as the rest of them, Kikiriku knew that he was sure, however he hated to admit that he had no control over when he’d die. He didn’t even want to think about death, honestly. Deciding to be truthful but sensitive, he pursed his lips a moment before answering. “I don’t plan on it...so not anytime soon, why do you ask?”

Kikiriku sniffled. “I had a nightmare th-that you disappeared l-like mommy did. I kept a-asking where you were and everyone told me to stop. They...they said th-that you were never coming back a-and I was so scared and I couldn’t stop crying.” He let out a sob then. “I don’t want to lose anyone else in our family.” 

Ja’far’s heart plummeted to his stomach, or at least it felt as it had. Leaning across the desk, he took Kikiriku’s hands in his own. “Hey it’s okay, don’t cry Kiks. I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here and I’m okay, and dad’s okay...everyone is okay.” 

“Are...are you sure no one is gonna go away?”

“I’m sure.” Ja’far assured him, before he stood and came to wrap his arms around his little brother, hugging him tightly. “I know…” he sighed before he was able to continue, admitting his failure aloud. “I know we failed to protect everyone once...well more than once, but I know that it’s hard when we all were so sure we’d found safety to have that stolen from us. I know we lost our home and from the bottom of my heart I am so sorry.” 

He started crying himself then, hugging Kikiriku as tightly as he dared to keep his knees from buckling. “But I promise, we’ll protect you and everyone else from now on. I-I can’t lose anyone else either. We’ll be okay I promise...Sindrians protect their own so you don’t have to be scared of losing us okay?”

Kikiriku nodded and held him tightly. They just stayed like that for a bit, crying into each others shoulders, neither of them daring to let go first as though doing so would cause them to disappear. Ja’far felt so fragile in that moment, he hadn’t meant to start crying, he knew he had to be strong for his siblings. But good solomon was this hard, acting like he was alright when his mother, his brothers, and his best friend had all been murdered because of his failures. So often he thought, if he didn’t exist that Sham Lash never would have come for them, that right now Kikiriku would be holding his mother and he wouldn’t have to cry now. 

He knew this wasn’t worth exploring however, something that was reaffirmed that night with Kikiriku. He was an important part of their family too, and if anything happened to him he knew many people would be miserable. They would be mourning his loss just like they mourned Rurumu’s. 

Maybe he was a failure in the past, or maybe blaming himself was wrong, he had no idea. Maybe they were without the ones they loved, or at least some of them, and maybe everything felt so wrong and broken at the moment. Maybe all of these awful things had figuratively ripped their hearts out and thrown them into a rainstorm, but at the very least he had become stronger, better, more capable. He promised himself that never again would he lose another part of his broken family.


End file.
